Lots of gardening has gone on here over the long weekend....wildflowers, lavender, & sunflowers have gotten their own little areas to call home. Our tomato seedlings have gone in the ground as well as beans & carrots! The whole backyard it seems has come to life over night....leaves have popped and flowers seem to be everywhere...it really is lovely.

....these are the things that have kept me away from here for a while....

Lots to do lately....lots of changes....BIG (all good!) changes happening that I will share soon enough...

Lots of yard clean up and planting has been happening too! We went ahead and started our seedlings indoors...very excited! We ordered tomatoes (black ones! super excited to see how they taste and turn out!), beans, & carrots this year (last year we think we went a bit overboard with excitement and planted too much) this year will be about keeping it simple. We still have two strawberry plants in pots that seemed to have held up well over winter to look forward to as well. We went ahead and ordered wild flowers, lavender and sunflowers (small ones) to pretty up and smell up (in a good way!) the yard....I hope to have LOTS of beautiful flower vases in the house this year....and plan on drying the lavender so I can make little scented pillows with it....thinking ahead to Christmas gifts already!

Lots of usual Spring purging/cleaning has been going on....as well as lots of extra purging/donating....all top secret for now... ; )

...and with our minds racing, organizing, planning, and daydreaming constantly (so it seems) we are also trying to get some much needed sleep here and there....barely.

Spring is so invigorating!!!! LOVE it!!!

*no...this is not a photo from Autumn...sadly....we are STILL raking up leaves.... and we found a little helper! ; )

I am pretty sure that a few months ago, I stumbled across vintage utopia.

Justin, Felix, and I were driving around...I am pretty sure we were probably desperate to get a nap out of Felix...when Justin remembered that our friend had mentioned a vintage consignment shop that was near by. I have an awesome husband that encourages me to shop for myself...I.love.him.

We drove up to the store (an old converted Victorian house...GORGEOUS!) and I was already super excited...I was not disappointed when we got inside! Room after room of amazing finds, dresses, sweaters, aprons, purses, shoes, hats, scarves, pants, tops, coats, gloves, jewelery ....and on the list goes! Just plain amazing!

Here are some of the finds I made these last few months...I will post about the vintage aprons I got there another time....they are so cute, they deserve their own post!

Here is a sweater that I have been wearing daily since I got it last week...

I LOVE the colour of it...the photo does not do it justice! And the neck is super cute.

This top I love too....it's just so friendly...and very comfy!

Another flowy top (I am a big fan)...the sleeves are adorable and the buttons are just lovely with the detail...

This store has definitely become a fast favourite of mine!

Feel free to check out their facebook page and if you live in the area, go check them out in person!

I have personally never been to a 1st birthday (before this one)...well...other than my own I guess....but that doesn't count, because I can't remember it ; ) ...and this one was pretty darn cool if I do say so myself....and I do! Someone decided that they did not want to miss any little bit of their birthday and decided the best way to do that was not to nap all day. Despite some crankiness, the day truned out to be lovely. Not much was consumed of the blueberry & banana birthday cake....not because of taste....but because the birthday boy was still getting over a very bad stomach virus from a couple of days prior. The birthday ring that will be brought out for every birthday from now on in our little family, was a big hit! Top the day off with a first "swim" in a big pool and all in all you have yourself a really good first birthday.

So far, this new year has been filled with lots of sniffles, ear aches, teeth pain, and learning how to walk bumps & bruises....which ultimately leads to more sniffles (of a different variety mind you).

Here's hoping things get back to "normal" by the weekend...until then, I hope your new year has been amazing so far....or you know, at least restful? ; )

Felix turns one year old on January 28th!!! One year!!! In six weeks!!! This year has officially seemed like the longest AND shortest year ever! I know that does not make much sense....but it might make some sense to some of you.

I realized yesterday that his birthday is so close by! I kept thinking "I will worry about planning after the holidays la la la" (because that it exactly how my mind works). So yesterday I got the panic....six weeks!!! Before Felix was born, my husband and I talked a lot about what kind of traditions we wanted for our growing family etc.... We wanted to keep my family (and now our family) birthday tradition going of having a birthday table. I grew up with this and have continued it with just the two of us each year. We basically decorate our kitchen table for each others birthdays....a nice table cloth, a cake (or sometimes pie or squares...whatever the birthday person wants that year), some decorations, and always a fresh flower of some sort....and of course a gift too!

A couple of years ago I came upon an online store called Nova Natural ....they have beyond lovely natural toys for kids (and lots of cute everyday living items too!). We fell in love with their celebration birthday rings....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the thought of having this birthday ring for many years of birthdays for the whole family! I bought the sixteen ring yesterday (it came with the beeswax candles (12) and holders. The ornaments are sold separately and you can pick and choose what kinds you would like from a wide cute variety....I got four ...a snowman, a duck, a star, and a hedgehog...no real meaning behind the choices (other than I thought they were cute....except for the snowman...I chose him because Felix's birthday is in the winter)...